Banned Sex Toy Gets CES Organisers All ‘Hot & Bothered’

A CES sex toy designed for women and given an Innovation Award has suddenly been banned from the Las Vegas tech show.

Now being described as “Proods” the Consumer Technology Association organisers of the show and the same people who granted the award, said it had included the device by mistake and could withdraw any immoral or obscene entries at any time.

The makers of the device are now clapping their hands in glee after the ban generated worldwide publicity for the device.

Lorna DiCarlo said it had been invited to display its robotic Ose vibrator at CES, after winning an innovation award he has accused the CES and CTA of having a history of gender bias.

CEO Lora Haddock said there was a double-standard at CES when it came to sexual health products targeted at men versus women.

“Men’s sexuality is allowed to be explicit, with a literal sex robot in the shape of an unrealistically proportioned woman and VR porn in point of pride along the aisle,” she said.

The products she is referring to are the RealDoll sex robot Harmony, which debuted at last year’s event, and a room showcasing virtual reality porn off the main conference in 2017.

The excuse given by the CTA was that the product did not fit into any of their existing product categories and “should not have been accepted”.

“We have apologised to the company for our mistake.” a spokesperson said.

But, in a statement on the Lora DiCarlo website, CEO Lora Haddock cites several examples of other female-oriented products included in the award category the vibrator was in.

The product was designed in partnership with a robotics laboratory at Oregon State University and had eight patents pending for “robotics, biomimicry, and engineering feats”, Ms Haddock said.

“We firmly believe that women, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and LGBTQI folks should be vocally claiming our space in pleasure and tech,” she said.

“Two robotic vacuum cleaners, one robotic skateboard, four children’s toys, one shopping companion robot – looks like all of women’s interests are covered, right?” she said.

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street, Journalist He wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner. for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media Company and prior to that the third largest PR Company that became the foundation Company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.